Entrepreneurship Course Descriptions

Note: Not all Entrepreneurship courses are offered every semester, and new courses may be added at any time. Check the schedule of classes, for the latest offerings.

ENTR 601: Entrepreneurial Mindset [3]

This course provides participants with the tools necessary for applying entrepreneurial thinking in their work and life. In this course, participants learn concepts for handling the ambiguity inherent in every business plan. The course focuses on increasing a participant’s aptitude for adapting to unexpected circumstances as well as their openness to pursuing untried solutions and innovating within their field.

Organizations have a myriad of responsibilities driven by legal requirements and ethical responsibilities/principles. This course focuses on the legal issues faced by entrepreneurial organizations and how they are often intertwined with the organization’s ethical responsibilities. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 604: Entrepreneurial Finance & Planning [3]

This course focuses on finance, planning and start-up considerations that every entrepreneur must face. It is designed for students who have a deep interest in understandings the inner-workings of a start-up entity and an entrepreneurial venture. The purpose of the course is to teach what is needed to properly plan, finance and maintain a healthily entrepreneurial venture. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study. A working knowledge of basic accounting terms and financial statements.

ENTR 605: Learning Organizations[3]

This course covers design thinking as an approach to consider issues and resolve problems more broadly than is typically applied to business and social issues. This course instructs participants in methods for creating an organizational culture of resilience. The course covers the research-derived four pillars of the resilient organization and methods for creating them. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 606: Diffusion of Innovations[3]

This course looks at how to successfully harness, promote and diffuse innovation and an innovation mindset across all levels of an organization. This requires a switch in the organization’s culture to accommodate a free flow of new ideas. An organization’s change agents can facilitate the diffusion of this innovation mindset by consistently engaging with others, encouraging their sharing of new ideas and thinking, and challenging them by fostering an environment of friction. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 607: Technology Commercialization[3]

This course is designed to give the participants an introduction to the process for starting a technology-based company, including 1) identifying candidate technologies with commercial potential; 2) forming a company to develop a product or service based on that technology, and 3) taking the initial steps in taking the product or service to market. An experiential model for learning will be employed for instruction in which the participants will form teams, select a technology, identify products/services derived from that technology, and develop a plan for commercialization of the product/service. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 608: Design Thinking[3]

This course addresses the fundamental principles of design thinking, and solving for difficult entrepreneurship and business problems facing early and growth-stage companies. A regional entrepreneurial company will serve as a source of problems for student teams who will take on the role of advisors. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 609: Sales and Marketing[3]

This course will introduce the basics of selling and how entrepreneurial techniques can make a difference in the success of an idea or inspire growth in a company. The class will focus on the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and review the relationship of customer need identification and the reasons that make people buy. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 610: Intrapreneurship[3]

This course identifies how participants can ultimately encourage and enhance a team’s synergy, causing it to become more than the sum of its parts, by showing commitment to both teammate and team goals and by jointly solving problems. It also provides a transformational learning opportunity for leveraging their leadership efficacy by cultivating self-awareness, successful communication skills, positive team interactions, and creating a growth mindset. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 611: Project Management Approaches[3]

This course provides participants with the requisite knowledge to explore how agile concepts can be employed to enhance project performance. Participants will learn the roots of the agile movement, key concepts, definitions, roles, and various tools and techniques. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 612: Creative Problem Solving & Social Entrepreneurship[3]

This course explores approaches to solve a specific socialpreneurship problem that is too ambiguous, complex, or messy to be addressed directly through traditional strategies. It seeks to increase the participants’ understanding of innovation and creative problem solving, and to enhance the ability to promote these skills in others. Students will work with a local, socially motivated entrepreneur and their organization to develop solution sets to a real-world complex problem. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 613: Marketing and Fundraising[3]

In this course, participants explore the foundations of target marketing and learn the best practices for harnessing the power of modern marketing tools and data. Participants also learn how to evaluate the capacity of their organization's fundraising infrastructure, as well as implement fundraising development and diversification strategies. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the program or at least the second semester of graduate study.

ENTR 614: Capstone I[3]

This course is the first of a two part capstone of the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership Masters of Professional Studies. The course is taken at the completion of the four required courses. The combination of the two part capstone takes a feasible concept and develops each element to create an integrated plan. These courses leverage all the MPS coursework. Capstone 1 focuses on concept development, industry and market analysis, marketing and sales plan, financial plan, and the business model. This course allows the student to develop their initial thinking in each of the aforementioned elements. Prerequisite: Completion of all other courses in the program.

ENTR 615: Capstone II[3]

This course is the second of a two part capstone of the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership Masters of Professional Studies. The course is taken at the completion of all other required courses. The combination of the two part capstone takes a feasible concept and develops each element to create an integrated plan. The capstone courses leverage all the MPS coursework. Capstone 1 focuses on concept development, industry and market analysis, marketing and sales plan, financial plan, and the business model. In addition, this course includes the development of management, operations, and launch plans. This course takes the students initial concept and brings it to reality. All the draft plans from Capstone 1 are integrated into a final business plan. The business plan is pitched at the Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition or to another appropriate audience. Prerequisite: Completion of all other courses in the program.

ENMG 654: Leading Teams and Organizations[3]

Students analyze leadership case studies across a wide range of industries and environments to identify effective leadership principles that may be applied in their own organizations. Students learn how to influence people throughout their organization, lead effective teams, create an inclusive workplace, use the Six Sigma process, implement and manage change and develop a leadership style. Prerequisite: ENMG 652: Management, Leadership and Communication